Washington Examiner: Political News

Washington Post: News

January 2005

January 07, 2005

It has been two years since the Volker commission pesented its findings at the lunch-time meeting of the National Press Club, Washington, DC. The proceedings were sponsored by the Brookings Institution, just up the street. The distinct perspective of each commission member, was clear from his or her answer to questions posed by Dr. Reiss, other professionals and members of the media. Follow-up questions demanded greater analysis and the members were moved beyond mere speaking points. Members of the press club remained in good form throughout the afternoon.

Some of the recommendations from that day have been implemented. It would be nice to have real follow-up to see if more top level people are going into the public sector, as a result of the new policies.

Professor Catherine M. Connolly is a Senior Supervising Consultant for College Health Enterprises. She has been on the Faculty of Syracuse University, and an Adjunct Professor of Psychology and Business Management teaching graduate and undergraduate students for the University of Maryland University College-Europe & Asia campuses. While working with graduate students in the psychology program, she specialized in teaching research methods, clinical assessment, psychometrics, individual & group psychotherapy, crisis intervention, and ethics. Her expertise in business management includes: organizational theory, mixed methods research, management science, leadership, organizational behavior and social psychology. Prof. Connolly was a Senior Supervising Psychologist and Director of Program Development & Research at the Children’s Home of Jefferson County. Her research interests are diverse.

Prof. Connolly also taught as an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychology at Columbia University in the City of New York, and supervised graduate students in their clinical practicum at the Columbia University Counseling Center. Prior to that, she taught and supervised doctoral candidates in clinical psychology at the Florida Institute of Technology Health Clinic. Clearly she loves the work and feedback has always been extremely positive.

Prof. Connolly's extensive training and experience started with the award of her R.N. at City University of New York, followed by her B.A. Magna Cum Laude at CUNY-Hunter College, and her M.A. in Social and Organizational Psychology at Columbia University Teachers College.

Prof. Connolly was also awarded her second masters degree, M.S., and her first doctoral degree, the Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology, from Florida Institute of Technology. Her continuing education has included certificates in: Family Therapy, Ackerman Institute of Family Therapy, NY; Digital Media Storytelling, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism; Advanced Cognitive Behavioural Therapies, University of Oxford, England; Mixed Methods Research, University of Heidelberg, Germany; and Executive Coaching, University of Cambridge, England.

Recently, Prof. Connolly defended another dissertation for a second doctorate, the D.B.A. in Business Administration, awarded by the University of Manchester, England (i.e., consistently rated # 1 as the World’s Best doctoral program in business by Financial Times during Prof. Connolly's time there). While at Manchester, Prof. Connolly developed a Smartphone App for measuring workplace incivility and related cognitive, emotional and behavioral outcomes in real-time similar to a digital diary. Her research has broadened the construct by adapting the Workplace Incivility Scale (WIS) to include online and face-to-face interactions, also indicating the hierarchal status of the instigator, in addition to scales of Emotional Exhaustion, Turnover Intentions, Sadness, Fear, Anger, and Ruminations. The app is a reliable and valid instrument that is user-friendly with 22 items that take under five minutes to complete. In collaboration with Prof. Reiss and her mentors at Manchester, she anticipates an extensive program of published research flowing from here. Future plans include the development of normative data across business, health, and educational sectors, while exploring related variables that have negative impact. Methodologically, this research advances the field by overcoming many of the limitations inherent in cross-sectional studies. Theoretically, the study expands the construct to include online forms, and provides support for a conceptual framework that helps explain workplace incivility and its effects.

Prof. Connolly has enjoyed working as a clinician on Wall Street, at various hospitals and for the US Department of Defense. Her Doctoral Internship in Clinical Psychology included specialization in Rehabilitation & Behavioral Medicine. She is also certified in EMDR, Biofeedback, and Neurofeedback. As a training supervisor at the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation Woodhull Medical Center in Brooklyn, Prof. Connolly supervised doctoral students in their internship program and was Director of the Medication Adherence Program. Dr. Connolly also has extensive experience in the fields of addiction and substance abuse treatment. She was affiliated with The Northern California Institute for Research & Education, and investigated PTSD in police officers at the NYPD. At Wall Street Counseling Center, she provided individual and couples therapy in addition to executive coaching.

Prof. Connolly worked at New York University Department of Environmental Medicine as a Clinical Psychologist and co-investigator in HIV research. She also published work in molecular, chromosomal and epidemiology research of cancer as part of a team at Memorial Sloan Kettering Department of Epidemiology. Prof. Connolly excels on both academic and medical teams, teaching, supervising and implementing policies for delivery of services. She maintains excellent working relationships with all the other professionals on the teams.

In addition to the field of psychology, Prof. Connolly studied art at the Art Student’s League of New York, the New York Academy of Art, the National Academy of Art, the Salmagundi Club Center for American Art, and Parsons New School for Design in New York & Paris. She has also exhibited her art in private and public venues, in addition to juried competitions. Earlier in life she lived and studied culinary arts in Paris at the Cordon Bleu. Currently, she enjoys playing violin.

Prof. Connolly has a unique skill set with training in the arts, music, drama, sciences and business, in addition to psychology, all of which serve her well teaching, providing clinical and consulting services, and conducting research.

Professor Christopher J. Reiss is the Founder of the Center for Interdisciplinary Collaboration, a subsidiary of ReissCorp, and has over three decades of experience leading organizations, teaching, consulting, fund raising and conducting research. He is a highly trained, seasoned professional with a diverse interdisciplinary perspective that he utilizes in an extremely effective manner.

Prof. Reiss works both independently and as a team member. He assesses individual & organizational functions, achievements and deficiencies. Then he develops, implements, monitors and adjusts problem solving intervention plans. When applicable, each project is fully documented for case presentation. Whether for training, education, consulting or forensic purposes, case materials are packaged into multimedia presentations and written reports.

Prof. Reiss has a great working knowledge of finance but an even better understanding of budgets, and a keen sense of how to operate successfully in a highly professional and personable manner with good common sense. It is a pleasure to work with him.

In addition, Prof. Reiss is currently a Diplomate Emeritus, Consultant & Member of the Professional Advisory Council of the American Board of Disability Analysts, and former Senior Supervising Consultant for College Health Enterprises with headquarters in New York and California. He was appointed Adjunct Professor of Psychology & Business Management for the University of Maryland University College, and implemented research protocols for new programs as Chief of Psychology, Forensics & Neuropsychology at the Children’s Home of Jefferson County. Historically, he has integrated music, drama and art with other more traditional forms of therapy to bring about significant change in people of all ages. As a contractor working with the military, Prof. Reiss used theater with the production of Greek tragedies and subsequent discussion groups, to educate and help American soldiers with PTSD and other related issues.

At his core, Prof. Reiss is a psychologist and educator with a pragmatic philosophy. His interdisciplinary perspective continued to develop throughout a life of learning. Much of the credit goes to his mentors at the University of Virginia. Some had “University Professorships” rather than departmental appointments, and were encouraged to regularly change departments in pursuit of lifelong learning, preferably to a department in which they had relatively less experience so the exchange of ideas would be on a more equal footing with students and other departmental experts and faculty. Prof. Reiss’ Doctor of Education is in the theories, policies, and practices of leading educational programs, college departments, universities and schools (K-12, undergraduate, graduate and professional). The requirements included at least two additional specializations outside the school of education. He chose business, law, and public health as his focus, excelling in each, including many cross-referenced courses at the nexus of the three fields, and obtained two additional masters degrees (i.e., business and law) en route to the Doctor of Education. As such, Prof. Reiss has expertise in: 1) The Integrated Curriculum Model [ICM] for designing differentiated course syllabi, mapping curricula, and developing best practice procedures for instruction; 2) Researching the most up-to-date and advanced content requirements within disciplines; 3) Constructing and validating test procedures for assessment units of study; 4) Stimulating high-level thinking processes and advanced concept formation; and 5) Implementing academic policies for the innovative advancement of educational quality and integrity. This was not wholly new to Prof. Reiss given his past experiences developing curricula at University of Maryland University College, New York Institute of Technology, New York Medical College, Pace University, St. Vincent’s Hospital-Manhattan, and The New York Court System Forensic Training Fellowship Programs that were in collaboration with Beth Israel Hospital, Columbia University in the City of New York, Cornell University, Einstein Hospital, Montefiore Hospital, Mount Sinai Hospital, New York Medical College, New York University, State University of New York-Downstate, and St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital. Additionally, Prof. Reiss has extensive experience collaborating with textbook publishers determining appropriate content and faculty resources for courses across various fields.

His research interests include: 1) The history of academia from the cradle of civilization to Plato’s academy, the University, departmentalization, interdisciplinary programs, international affiliates, and strategic business solutions based on analysis of interview data from major universities around the world; 2) The arts in historical and cultural contexts; 3) The development of appropriate music, art, dramatization and entertainment venues that can be customized to educate and address the specific needs of communities concerning a variety of healthcare, educational and other issues; 4) Advancing a new mathematical model, Operational Competitive Rating Analysis, for measuring the cost effectiveness of business, health and educational institutions; and 5) The development and validation of new instruments for measuring various constructs (i.e., both state and trait measures) with the most recent focus on institutional civility and civil disobedience. Prof. Reiss has also been collaborating closely with Prof. Catherine Connolly who has developed a Smartphone App for research purposes that can track the prevalence and outcomes of workplace incivility, develop normative data across industry sectors, and explore related variables that impact businesses. As such, there are high expectations of numerous forthcoming publications. Please refer to her biography for more details, presented below. Prof. Reiss & Prof. Connolly are also members of the Columbia University School of Journalism Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and together they have developed ReissCorp Weblogs for Journalism & Literature Here and Abroad.

In addition to his academic post at University of Maryland University College-Europe, Prof. Reiss presented his lecture on Assessment for Clinical, Forensic, and Scientific Purposes as a guest lecturer at Syracuse University. His abilities to assess and meet the needs of students and faculty, bridge the gaps between disciplines, and work collaboratively, both within and across diverse cultures, is outstanding. Ratings have been consistently exceptional, e.g., “Informative, entertaining, and genuinely interested in his students, his colleagues, and his work”. The most recent comment from one of his graduate students, a retired Marine, was as follows: “I really appreciated your style of instruction. This was one of my favorite classes, to date. Thank you for your contribution to my education”.

His teaching experience has ranged from supervision on an individual basis, to small seminars, large lecture halls, auditoriums, public venues and stadiums. At St. Vincent’s Hospital & Medical Center of Manhattan, teaching was often done in seminar formats during morning rounds, case conferences, Grand Rounds and at other times. Prof. Reiss was in charge of Behavioral Health and taught psychiatry & psychology interns and fellows, in addition to psychiatry residents, and medical students. He was also the liaison consultant to all other departments, where he fostered a deeper understanding of each patient, grounded in both basic and clinical sciences. As a senior forensic expert (e.g., at the New York Police Department, the New York Courts, and the Judge Advocate General's Military Corp), Prof. Reiss would regularly brief lawyers on the nuances of various cases, prep them for Court, and provide expert testimony to Judges and Juries, while translating complex ideas into engaging and easily understandable facts. As a consultant to the military (e.g., civilian contractor for The Pentagon, deployed overseas 2008-2013), Prof. Reiss advised garrison commanders on issues that helped inform their leadership decisions. As a business consultant (e.g., as Co-Director of Affiliated Physicians at the World Trade Center, President of ReissCorp, and Chairperson of ReissCorp Center for Interdisciplinary Collaboration), he has regularly given luncheon lectures, seminars, and boardroom presentations to business executives, at both large and small gatherings. He developed employee assistance programs for large-scale corporations, targeting all types of medical and public health issues. With the help of the late Dr. Peter Rizzo (former NYPD & FDNY Surgeon, and Chief of Orthopedic Surgery at St. Vincent’s Hospital), Prof. Reiss developed the curriculum for a back pain management program to be franchised across the country to help employees cope with the chronic condition, reducing a major reason employees call in sick to work.

He was awarded his B.A. at The George Washington University taking up to 21 credits a semester while on the Dean's List, including 32 credits at the graduate level in Art Therapy and Social Sciences. His M.A. in Academic Psychology and Cognitive Research was attained at The New School for Social Research, and his Ph.D. from Florida Institute of Technology was in Clinical Psychology, with a minor in International Studies from their Lugano, Switzerland campus. Prior to graduation, he completed his training analysis and an APA approved internship dealing with adults & children, followed by fellowships in clinical psychology, neuropsychology and forensics.

Prof. Reiss was also awarded his M.B.A. in International Business from Long Island University, with studies at their affiliate campuses in New York, London, and Paris (i.e., the United Nations Program; C.W. Post College of Management-NY; European Business School, Regent's University-London; Ecole de Management, Le Pôle Universitaire Léonard de Vinci-Paris; and the Touro College of Law). Additionally, he was awarded his LL.M. in International Law and International Relations from the University of Kent Faculty of Law at Canterbury England, and the Brussels School of International Studies.

In 2013, Prof. Reiss was awarded his second doctorate, an Ed.D. in Policy Studies from the University of Virginia specializing in business, law, public health & the policies of running all types of educational programs and facilities. His third Doctorate, the D.Litt., in Arts and Letters with specialization in history, philosophy and literature was awarded by Drew University in 2016. Prof. Reiss is currently matriculated at Boston University, College of Fine Arts & School of Music, working towards his fourth doctorate on a part-time basis, the D.M.A. in Music and Arts. The program director, Prof. André de Quadros, and Prof. Reiss will be collaborating on research to educate people about a variety of issues through the development of various staged and street performances. It should prove especially useful in underserved areas that do not have much access to television (e.g., under-developed countries, refugee camps, and etc.). The Boston University program is mostly online, and never involves more than one course at a time. As you can see from his resumé, Prof. Reiss has always remained very productive, even while pursuing part-time graduate studies. The structure of the program is likely to keep him active in the areas of interdisciplinary public health research, workplace civiity, and education. Clearly, Prof. Reiss has extensive post-graduate training, all of which involved class presentations and/or thesis and dissertation defenses. He has presented at various professional association meetings, and has worked as a peer reviewer for journals and annual conferences.

In summary, Prof. Reiss has expertise in many fields and he spent much of the last decade living and working abroad (e.g. as a healthcare contractor in Germany; traveling the world conducting dissertation fieldwork, researching the quality and scope of university-based education; and teaching in China before that). He was also appointed by University of Maryland University College-Europe to teach psychology, international/multi-cultural studies, business management and ethics. His academic leadership experiences from clinical, forensic, military and business settings should be weighted alongside his teaching experiences at Pace University, New York Medical College, New York Institute of Technology, University of Maryland University College, and Syracuse University. Prior to University of Maryland University College, he was an Adjunct Professor in Arts & Sciences at New York Institute of Technology, also in collaboration with the Nanjing University of Posts & Telecommunications, teaching all aspects of business administration, journalism, writing, speech making, debate, international relations, negotiation & law, while living in China. That said, his teaching experiences date back to 1983 when he was a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychology, Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, New York Medical College, and an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychology, Pace University.

Professors Christopher Reiss and Catherine Connolly thoroughly enjoy working in diverse multi-cultural environments and exploring the world with their Irish Wolfhound named Tess.

Our commitment to teaching is guided by a pragmatic philosophical stance that we have practiced throughout our careers as clinical psychologists, professors, and interdisciplinary scholars. First, it is our belief that creating a climate of respect in the classroom that honors diversity at all levels of the student’s experience is key to creating an emotional climate that is safe, whereby, all students can express their thoughts and insights freely. Also, from our experience, reducing ambiguity such as clarifying role expectations, course requirements, and making clear how evaluative decisions are made regarding the grading process can minimize any misunderstanding concerning the expected standard of performance.

The main aim of a university professor is first, to be a good story-teller engaging the students, and second, to understand what kinds of tools help students excel when trying to master a particular subject. An introductory exercise is often helpful in guiding student discussions concerning their ontological and epistemological positions and the impact of each on how to answer a particular research question. It sets the tone to think critically when selecting the appropriate research method when investigating various questions. Philosophically, this also encourages students to recognize that there are multiple views from which to approach problems, whether it be quantitative, qualitative, or both.

Modern technology has provided the university professor many tools that enable the learning environment to be fluid, dynamic and within a global reach. Currently, students now have the opportunity to discover how other countries and cultures conceptualize challenges faced by various disciplines and/or industries. For example, making connections with international leaders in a particular field can be both inspirational and provide different points of view with respect to decision and styles when exploring areas of interest and/or managing people and organizations. Hosting online meetings in the classroom with guest speakers enable this type of exposure, and minimizing travel costs for international conferences. Digital media story telling is another example of conveying content that is informative, entertaining, and engaging. Overall, taking academic subjects and presenting them through videos, podcasts, blogs, and real-life experiences, in addition to standard lectures and seminar discussions, allow for different modes of presentation, communication and learning.

In summary, our commitment to teaching has been, and is consistent with the principles of classical pragmatism that takes the ontological position of pluralism, “that reality is complex and multiple”, along with the epistemological position that there are multiple routes to knowledge. This approach integrates theory and application, based on learning through a combination of both academic and non-academic community based resources.